For all the moms out there, the Edison Birthplace Museum would like to congratulate and honor you on Mother’s Day. You are appreciated.

Thomas Edison & His Mother

Tom Edison left school after only a few months, because his teacher stated that he had mental deficiencies. He wouldn’t learn like the other children. His mother, Nancy Elliott Edison, took him out of school and decided to educate him herself, as she had been a teacher. She taught him how to read good books like, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and Hume’s History of England. Soon she realized that the true direction of her son’s interest was in the sciences and brought him books with scientific experiments. Edison’s curiosity was ignited like a wildfire and he read and tested out every experiment in the books. When his experimenting got to a certain level, he went from working in his room to setting up a lab in the cellar, exploring chemistry and the telegraph; steam engines and mechanical forces. He learned for himself…...for his insatiable curiosity. The constant love and attention of his mother allowed him to start to become the person who became the catchphrase for innovation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In 1876, Edison built his famous laboratory in Menlo Park. In which U.S. state is Menlo Park?